Nakye Sanders leading a Tottenville resurgence with old-school game

It is the age of the guard and the wing on the basketball court, of the dribble drive and 3-point shots flying. Like all evolutions, it has trickled down from the pros to college to the high school level.

Even the big men want to step outside, face the basket and put the ball on the floor, or expand their range to the arc.

It feels like the entry pass is a lost art.

And then comes along a retro center, a back-to-the-basket post-up monster. That’s Nakye Sanders, the Tottenville junior who is leading a Pirate resurgence this season.

“A lot of big guys want to be outside,” said Pirate coach John Woodman. “He doesn’t have that philosophy. Get to the rim. You can see that in the way he rebounds.”

The rebounds. Every night out it seems like Sanders has 15 or more. Old-school board numbers. Wednesday night there were 17 of them, to go with 15 points, in a 60-42 win over New Dorp that improved Tottenville’s PSAL record to 8-1.

“I do what helps the team,” said Sanders. “For Staten Island, I feel like playing the post helps the team.”

And now that he’s grown to 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds, he’s winning battles that he lost two years ago.

Like most 6-foot-4 14-year-olds, Sanders was rail thin when he showed up in Huguenot as a freshman. Woodman had a varsity squad lacking height and a newcomer not sure he was ready to play up.

Woodman promised him he wouldn’t rush him, that they’d talk it over first. But it didn’t take long for everybody to recognize the obvious.

“As soon as the ball went up,” said Woodman, “there was no need for discussion.”

“He felt I was ready for it,” said Sanders, “and I trusted him.”

Young for his age with a November birthday, Sanders found himself battling for position with seniors who might have been giving away inches, but had the freshman easily outmuscled.

“A little scrawny,” said Sanders. “Guys pushed me around.”

That wasn’t so much the case as a sophomore, when Sanders blossomed into a consistent scorer, averaging 16.1 points per game. But he was one of five sophomores on a team with just three seniors.

Youth was an obstacle the Pirates weren’t quite ready to conquer. They finished 5-20. The sophomore wasn’t impressed with his soaring scoring average.

“Wasn’t a big jump,” said Sanders. “We weren’t winning games and that’s the ultimate goal. I don’t worry too much about my stats.”

This season he’s got both, with a real shot at a trip to the PSAL AA playoffs, an Island PSAL title and maybe even an appearance in the SIHSL championship game, which would be Tottenville’s first since 2005.

There is a front line with depth in Devine Hite, Jasin Cobovic, Dan Hagis and Ryan Fraser plus solid guards Adnan Javid and Joseph Palermo.

“I think we’ve got a lot of guys stepping up, playing their role,” said Sanders. “This year’s team is close. Hard workers. Come to work every day. No slacking.”

It’s the continuation of a 2013 year that was a breakout in every way for Sanders. First he finished his high school season as the SIHSL’s seventh-leading scorer, then he continued to grow on his way toward summer league play.

In his second season with New Heights on the travel circuit, Sanders battled top players across the country and emerged as a firm Division I recruit.

“It feels better knowing you have to play your hardest and your best at all times,” said Sanders. “The talent’s there and if you don’t they’re going to run over you.”

Over the course of the summer Sanders moved from New Heights 15s team to play up a year with the 16s. By the time he was back in school in the fall he had scholarship offers from Manhattan, St. Peter’s, Wagner and Quinnipiac.

In that big-time travel ball environment, Sanders will spend more time stepping out from the paint where he’s so dominant in high school competition. There is more to him than the interior dominance that has easily drawn the attention.

Woodman says Sanders just may be the Pirates’ best passer, and an unselfish player with a head for the game.

“His basketball IQ is by far the best I’ve ever coached,” said Woodman. “Here, Curtis, anywhere.